The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the Calamitous Effect on Reconstruction:

• President Andrew Johnson's ascendency was detrimental to Reconstruction efforts:

  • Johnson was a racist and opposed advancing African-American interests in the South.

  • He prioritized rapid reintegration of the South, neglecting African-American plights.

  • Hostile relationship with Radical Republicans in Congress.

Efforts by Radical Republicans in Congress:

• Creation of the Freedmen's Bureau:

  • Federal agency to improve the economic and political well-being of African Americans.

  • Agents were sent to the South to advance these efforts.

• Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866:

  • Advanced African-American rights and freedoms.

• Johnson's vetoes were overridden by Congress due to the Radical Republican majority.

Enshrinement of African-American rights through the 14th Amendment:

• The slow rise of ex-Confederates in the South led to the sharecropping system:

  • Black tenant farmers were economically dependent on former plantation rulers.

• Implementation of "Black Codes" across the South:

  • Restricted African Americans' rights to own businesses, testify in court

• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan:

  • Violent group that intimidated and terrorized Black Southerners.

Presidential election of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction:

• Samuel Tilden won the national popular vote, but electoral votes were tied.

• Southern supporters agreed to allow Rutherford B. Hayes to become president if Federal troops were withdrawn from the South.

• Reconstruction ended in 1877, leading to suffering and institutionalized segregation in the South.

Settlement of the West:

• Old West period from the Homestead Act of 1862 to the opening of Oklahoma Territory in 1890.

• Railroads accelerated Western settlement and integration into the American economy.

• Native Americans were displaced and placed in reservations.

• Overhunting and habitat fragmentation decimated the North American bison population.